Page 5 of The Realm That Falls to Her

But he’s alive. That much I can feel. Not emptiness or absence, but a raw, vivid presence on the other end of the link.

I’m coming to find you, I promise him, trying to send some sense of reassurance through the bond. I don’t know if he receives it, but it can’t hurt. I send my magic too, sharing a portion of it with him in the hope it will bring him strength…but I can’t help but feel it’s like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into the vast sea. Who knows if it will reach him? Or if it will be enough to help.

I open my eyes, the pain of the connection dulling a little, but still making my body ache. I refuse to pull back from it, though. I’ll keep it here, in the background, no matter how uncomfortable it is. As long as I can still feel Ruskin through it, I don’t care.

I see Destan’s concerned face staring back at me.

“He’s alive,” I breathe. “I can feel it, but he’s running out of time.”

The concerned expression deepens.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh,” I say. “Ruskin and I, we’re naminai.”

He blinks like I’ve just sprouted a second head.

“B-but that’s not possible,” he stutters. “You’re human and…”

“And I have a true name.”

Destan’s eyes narrow. “That’s why you were asking me about naminai a few weeks ago, wasn’t it? You sneaky?—”

“Des,” I say, jerking my head towards Hadeus. “We need to find out what he knows. Right now.”

He looks like he’s going to argue, then just shakes his head. “Fine. But we are so talking about this later.”

He goes to shove Hadeus off the back of the horse so he hits the ground with a thud, then with one hand he seizes Hadeus’s shirt and drags him over to me, propping him up against the tree trunk. I search around for my sword, but Destan holds up a hand.

“Allow me.”

He pulls a delicate knife from his belt, spinning it around the back of his palm and catching the blade. The movement is so smooth I barely catch it.

He notices my stare.

“Halima isn’t—” His breath catches for a second, but then he continues, his voice so smooth that I barely hear the break in it. “—wasn’t the only one who knew her way around a blade. I just prefer something with a little more finesse.”

We both stop for a moment, remembering our friend. I see her strong, powerful frame brought low, lying before me in the depths of the Seelie palace, her face pale as she begs for my forgiveness, makes me promise to watch Ruskin’s back… I blink several times, fighting back a tear. There’ll be time to mourn her, but not now. Now I have to fulfill my vow to her and keep Ruskin alive.

Destan’s eyes fall on Hadeus, his face going tight with anger.

“You,” he says, roughly pulling the gag down from Hadeus’s mouth, and slicing open his shirt. He pulls off the chainmail protection Hadeus is wearing underneath and rests the tip of his knife on the ridge of Hadeus’s clavicle.

“Where did Evanthe take Prince Ruskin?” Destan says. All trace of the playful, lighthearted Destan I know is gone.

“That’s High Queen Evanthe to you, you pathetic whelp,” Hadeus snarls.

“Sorry, not the answer I was looking for,” Destan says mildly, and presses the tip of the knife into Hadeus’s flesh, drawing a thin line down across the ridge of his bone.

The fae lord screams loud enough to startle the birds from the trees.

I’m staring at Destan again. He glances over to meet my eye, just for a second—checking to see if I’m going to stop him.

I don’t.

He turns back to Hadeus as the fae starts to speak.

“Do you think we’ll let that treacherous family of yours live after you’ve betrayed the crown?” Hadeus spits at Destan through gasping breaths. “I’ll personally make sure they’re executed, one by one. And as the light fades from their eyes and their blood spills across the palace floor, they’ll know it’s you who killed them. The runt who never amounted to anything but treason and an ugly end.”

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